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By Sylvania Ambani
Nation Media Group
Ole Sereni Hotel has finally spoken out following the incident that took place at their establishment over the weekend.
In the incident, brothers Eddie and Paul Ndichu are alleged to have been involved in an altercation at the hotel’s lobby.
According to a statement issued on Tuesday, Ole Sereni Hotel CEO Ghulam Samdani said they are aware of the incident.
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However, he termed it as an isolated case and pointed out that it does not reflect the character and operations of the hotel.
“We are aware that there are some disturbing pictures and videos circulating online of an incident that occurred at the lobby of Emara Ole-Sereni hotel and would like to state the following. Please note that we do not accept nor condone any such behavior as we have an obligation to provide a safe and enjoyable experience for all our guests,” Mr Samdani said.
“While there was an incident, it is isolated and out of character for our operations. The hotel’s security intervened immediately to prevent further violence and the manager on duty promptly contacted the police, who took control of the matter. We are aware that no arrests were made and as such we have no further comment at this stage,” he added.
The brothers are accused of assaulting a woman and of vandalizing the side mirror of a vehicle during the drama.
But the brothers, in a statement released Tuesday, distanced themselves from assault claims, saying the video does not reflect a true account of the events that took place over the weekend.
The brothers allege that they were breaking up a fight.
“To be clear, Paul and Eddie got involved in an attempt to neutralize a confrontation between two women and to defend themselves from certain aggressors,” Wapi Pay said in the statement.
[SIZE=6]Hotel drama[/SIZE]
All was going well for the twins until they were accused of being at the center of an altercation at the Mombasa Road hotel.
The brothers are accused of assaulting a woman and of vandalizing the side mirror of a vehicle during the drama.
But the brothers, in a statement released Tuesday, distanced themselves from assault claims, saying the video does not reflect a true account of the events that took place over the weekend.
The brothers allege that they were breaking up a fight.
“To be clear, Paul and Eddie got involved in an attempt to neutralize a confrontation between two women and to defend themselves from certain aggressors,” Wapi Pay said in the statement.
The company also said it does not condone violent behavior.
“We found the story distasteful and troubling and want to firmly state that any type of behavior involving violence against women does not reflect our values nor does it reflect those of Eddie and Paul,” it adds.
“Our understanding is that the allegations and video currently being shared on social media, albeit horrific and regrettable, do not depict the true events that transpired that night.”
The twins say the matter has been reported to the police for further investigation and action.
Japanese venture capital firm Kepple Africa Ventures on Tuesday announced that it would “relinquish all the rights of our investment stake” in the twins’ Kenyan fintech startup, Wapi Pay.
The announcement came just a day after the brothers were caught on camera in an altercation at Ole Sereni Hotel.
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“We will relinquish all the rights of our investment stake in Wapi Pay,” General Partner Satoshi Shinad said in a tweet.
The value of Kepple Africa Ventures’ investment in the twins’ company is not clear, but the firm is one of Wapi Pay’s key backers. Others are EchoVC and China-based global fund MSA Capital, as well as other angel investors.
In August this year, Wapi Pay, which also has operations in Singapore, raised $2.2 million (about Sh250 million) pre-seed funding round from investors to help it engage regulators in seeking to license across Africa and drive the firm’s expansion.
“These funds will help Wapi Pay diversify its product range and drive growth so that we can evolve remittances into real-time global cross-border payments, starting with Africa and Asia. All while minimizing the cost of transactions, it needs to be as easy as sending M-Pesa,” Eddie Ndichu, co-founder at Wapi Pay, said at the time.
Founded in 2019, Wapi Pay, which has offices in Nairobi, Singapore and Tianjin (China), delivers platform-to-platform integrations, global accounts and virtual wallets to enable convenient payments.
Read: Twins eye cut of billions in Kenyan, Asian commerce
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